lacking

[lak-ing]

preposition

1. being without; not having; wanting; less.

   Lacking equipment, the laboratory couldn't undertake the research project.

adjective

1. wanting; deficient.

   He was found lacking in stamina.

Word History and Origins

Origin of lacking¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; lack + -ing ²

Example Sentences

No easy task when the Australian has been lacking pace all weekend.

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"It's the most difficult feeling for a doctor to be present, able to diagnose a condition but unable to carry out essential tests and lacking the necessary treatments," Dr al-Farra says.

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Flaubert and Balzac, according to Mr. Delbourgo, were a new kind of buyer, the “Romantic collecting self,” possessed by status anxiety but lacking great wealth.

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Today the press corps is so depleted, and so lacking in backbone, that no one has sprung forward to defend Date’s right to ask a legitimate question.

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It is down to United to prove me wrong, and show everyone they do have the consistency they have been lacking, and that may well be part of Amorim's team talk.

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Related Words

• flawed 
• inadequate 
• incomplete